Housing NZ must immediately move family

Housing New Zealand must immediately move a Glen Innes family whose son contracted serious and potentially fatal health problems from the appalling condition of their state house, Labour’s Housing spokesperson Phil Twyford says.

“Te Ao Marama Wensor and community workers assisting her have been asking Housing NZ to move them for several months.

“A mouldy wall in the bathroom has led to her seven-year-old son having strokes. He was later found to have holes in his lungs and an enlarged heart which puts him at risk of having a heart attack.

“Housing NZ should have moved them as soon as they were notified of the boy’s health problems.

“It is not good enough that after months of asking, nothing has been done.

“Housing NZ – which has 68,000 state houses nationally and has a balance sheet of $18 billion – has 2000 empty state houses around the country. It has 2800 state houses in the family’s neighbourhood alone.

“It beggars belief a new home can’t be found. Housing NZ must immediately and permanently move the Wensor family to a warm, dry house,” Phil Twyford says.